Nokia Announces $499 Lumia 2520 Windows RT Tablet

Nokia's finally done it. They've taken the taken the trend of larger and larger smartphone screens and seen it through to the very end, making a 10.1-inch Windows device called the Lumia 2520. Technically, it's a tablet, running Windows RT, but you'd be forgiven for thinking it's a really, really big smartphone. The Lumia 2520 sticks to the design Nokia has used in most of its devices over the past few years, with a colorful, rounded polycarbonate shell and a strong black bezel around its screen. Nokia's first Windows RT tablet even has a built-in LTE radio for mobile data. In other words, if you wanted to use it as a 10.1-inch VOIP phone, it wouldn't be too tough.

Nokia unveiled the Lumia 2520 at Nokia World on Tuesday, and the new tablet bears some similarities to Microsoft's own Windows RT device, the Surface 2. Instead of Nvidia's Tegra 4, the Lumia runs on Qualcomm's quad-core 2.2GHz Snapdragon 800. Both tablets use 1080p displays, 2GB of RAM, 32GB of internal storage, and offer microSD slots for expandability. The Lumia 2520 is a touch lighter at 1.35 pounds, compared to the Surface 2's near-1.5 pounds.

With cameras, there's a small trade-off. The Lumia 2520 has a 6.7 megapixel camera around the back, with a 1.9 aperture and Carl Zeiss lens. On the front, it has a simple 2 megapixel webcam. The Surface 2's webcam is 3 megapixels, but it's rear-facing camera is only 5 megapixels, and without the lens quality Nokia is known for in its mobile devices.

According to The Verge, Nokia's 1080p display looks fantastic, and navigating Windows 8.1 on the device is snappy as can be. They also tested out the Lumia 2520's keyboard cover--the device isn't compatible with Microsoft's Surface covers--which folds up into something resembling a leather binder. Unfolded, the case gives the Nokia tablet a kickstand to sit upright and a physical scissor keyboard and trackpad for laptop emulation. The backside of the cover even has two full-size USB ports for docking.

Nokia's keyboard cover even includes an extra battery, which Nokia says will add about five hours of juice to the tablet's existing 8000mAh, 11 hour runtime. No word on an exact release date for the $499 tablet, but Nokia plans on releasing first in the US, UK, and Finland.